The present invention relates to amusement rides and, more particularly, to a giant swing ride with a pivotal boom arm and pivotal cam arms for elevating a passenger and then releasing the passenger into a swinging motion.
Amusement rides of a variety of types have provided great thrills to many people over the years. One type of ride is a giant swing ride that swings a rider back and forth through the air in an arc. Known swing rides have a harness suspended from a cable that is attached to one (and sometimes more than one) elevated support structure. One (and sometimes more than one) separate and spaced apart elevated launch structure is used to lift the rider to an elevated position, so that the rider can then be released from the launch structure to swing from the support structure under the force of gravity. In order to prevent the rider from swinging too close to the ground, typical swing rides include a winch for taking in a length of the cable, a lift for raising a portion of the support structure, or a platform for loading the passenger into the carriage. One such known swing ride is disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,906, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
While these giant swing rides generally provide a thrill to the rider, they have their drawbacks. Because they include one or several large support structures for swinging the rider, and a large, separate, and spaced apart launch structure for lifting the rider to the launch position, they require a relatively large amount of ground space and are costly to manufacture and maintain. Also, because they require a mechanism for preventing the rider from swinging too close to the ground, such as a winch, lift, or platform, they include additional lifting components that are costly to manufacture and maintain.
Also, conventional amusement rides include giant oscillating rides that launch a rider up and over the top of support structures in a generally circular or semicircular motion. These rides typically have a single support structure, or two support structures that are closely spaced, which support a pivotal or rotary arm with a rider or capsule attached thereto. These rides are fundamentally different from the swing rides described above, because they operate to pull or propel the rider up and through the air by the pivot arm, instead of permitting the rider to swing from cables under the force of gravity. Furthermore, while these rides require less lateral ground space than conventional swing rides, they nevertheless include costly support structures and also typically require complicated and costly counterweight and/or lifting mechanisms. Such known oscillating rides are disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,989,127, 5,803,815, and 5,658,201, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
Accordingly, what is needed but not found in the prior art is giant swing ride that swings a rider back and forth through the air and that requires less ground space than known swing rides, without the need for two or more spaced apart, costly, and land-intensive support structures. Additionally, there is a need for giant swing ride that elevates the rider safely off the ground during the swinging motion, without the need for a costly winch, lift, platform, or like mechanism. Furthermore, there remains a need for such a swing ride that is reliable, safe, and has few moving components so that it is cost-effective to make and use.
Generally described, the present invention provides a giant swing amusement ride comprising a support tower and a support beam rotationally mounted to the support tower. The support beam has a boom arm and two (or another number of) cam arms extending therefrom, with the boom arm and the cam arms pivotal between a lowered loading position and an elevated operating position. A passenger carriage such as a flexible harness, rigid cage, or other suitable device for supporting one or more persons, is releasably coupled to the boom arm and is lifted by the boom arm between a lowered loading position and an elevated launch position. The passenger carriage is suspended from the cam arms by two (or another number of) cables that permit the passenger carriage to swing in a back and forth motion.
In this arrangement, one or more passengers can be loaded into the carriage in the loading position. When the support beam is rotated it pivots the boom arm and the cam arms from the loading position to the elevated operating position. By pivoting the boom arm to the operating position, the passenger carriage is lifted from the loading position to the launch position. Because the cam arms are now pivoted to the elevated operating position, the pivot point for the swinging motion is correspondingly raised. Therefore, when the passenger carriage is released from the boom arm in the operating position, the passenger carriage swings from the cam arms back toward the loading position but is elevated with respect to the loading position by the elevated cam arms in the operating position.
Accordingly, the pivoted cam arms provide ground clearance so that the passenger carriage can swing back and forth in a pendulum path elevated safely from the ground, without the need for a winch, lift, movable loading platform, or the like. Also, because the cam arms and the boom arm are mounted on one (or two closely spaced) support tower(s), there is no need for a separate, costly, and land-intensive launch tower. In this way, the present invention provides a giant swing ride that is reliable, safe, and has few moving components so that it is cost-effective to make and use.
In a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, a first actuator operates to rotate the support beam between the loading position and the operating position. Also, the cam arms are selectively locked from pivoting when in the operating position by the actuator (or are otherwise prevented from pivoting). Additionally, the cam arms each have a length that is shorter than a length of the boom arm and that is sufficiently long so that the passenger carriage swings above and does not contact the ground. In this manner, the giant swing can be operated easily to raise the passenger carriage from the loading position to the launch position, and then the carriage can be easily launched to swing safely above the ground.
In a second exemplary embodiment of the invention, the boom arm and the cam arms are pivotally mounted to the support beam so that they pivot independently of each other. Also, a second actuator operates to pivot the boom arm, while the first actuator operates to pivot the cam arms. In this configuration, the first actuator can be operated to pivot the cam arms and lift the passenger carriage off the ground, so that any straps or other passenger securing devices of the carriage can be checked for safety. Then the second actuator can be operated to pivot the boom arm to lift the carriage to the launch position for release into the swinging motion.
In a third exemplary embodiment of the invention, the carriage is elevated safely from the ground during its swinging motion not by cam arms but by the thickness of the support beam itself. In this embodiment, the cables are attached directly to the support beam at attachment portions, and the support beam has a thickness such that, when the boom arm is pivoted to the operating position and the passenger carriage is released, the passenger carriage swings back toward the loading position but is elevated with respect to the loading position by the thickness of the support beam. Accordingly, the cam arms need not be provided, and the thickness of the support beam, when the attachment portions are rotated from the loading position to the operating position, safely elevates the passenger carriage from the ground while it swings back and forth through the air.
In a fourth exemplary embodiment of the invention, the boom arm is urged to pivot between the lowered loading position and the elevated operating position by a movable counterweight, with or without the assistance of the first or second actuator. The counterweight has a counterweight body movably mounted to a counterweight arm by a movable coupling such as a ball screw. A counterweight actuator operates to move the counterweight body closer to or farther from the support beam to provide the desired leverage for pivoting the boom arm.
In a fifth exemplary embodiment of the invention that produces a similar advantage as the fourth embodiment, a movable counterweight includes at least two storage tanks and a fluid that is transported therebetween by one or more actuators such as pumps. The counterweight actuator operates to move the counterweight fluid closer to or farther from the support beam to provide the desired leverage for pivoting the boom arm.
In another aspect of the invention, there is provided a method for swinging at least one passenger by an amusement ride. The method includes positioning a passenger carriage in a loading position, loading the passenger into or onto the passenger carriage, pivotally lifting a boom arm and cam arms to an elevated operating position to lift the passenger carriage to an elevated launch position, and releasing the passenger carriage from the boom arm. Then the passenger carriage swings back toward the loading position but is elevated with respect to the loading position by the elevated cam arms in the operating position. In this way, the carriage swings safely above the ground because of the elevated cam arms in the operating position. At the conclusion of the ride, after the passenger carriage swings until it comes to a stop, the cam arms are pivoted to the loading position and the passenger is unloaded from the carriage.